一切

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Caoimhghín
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一切

Post by Caoimhghín »

Why, in Chinese, is "all" expressed as something analagous to "one-cut"?

I have seen in older Chinese words, 一切(X), with X standing in for a character meaning "myriad" or "many".

Does "one-cut-X" mean "(from) one (to) many"? Is that the meaning of "cut" here?
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
Admin_PC
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Re: 一切

Post by Admin_PC »

This is by no means definitive. My book of Chinese character etymology doesn't cover this one in depth.

There appear to be 2 pronunciations for the character 切. The pronunciation affects the meaning. The 切 in 一切 seems to come from the 2nd pronunciation (qiè - qie4), which has the following meanings:
1. to be close to
2. to bite tightly; to clench
3. to correspond to; to match
4. (traditional Chinese medicine) to feel the pulse
5. eager; ardent
6. urgent; pressing
7. all; entire
8. must; by all means
9. main point
10. (phonetics) Short for 反切 (fǎnqiè, “fanqie”).

REF: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%88%87

一切(X) would be "all of (X)" (all of the myriad....).
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